PRAYAGRAJ police claimed to have found six more students involved in as many as seven mysterious crude bomb attacks in different parts of Prayagraj city over the past three months.
According to police, they have, so far, detained 35 students, including 27 minors, in connection with the blasts and physical assault, and all of them are from four reputed schools in the city. The eight above 18-year-old students have passed out of their schools upon completing intermediate, they said.“We are now looking out for another six students whose names cropped up during the questioning of 35 detained students, and we found their activities suspecting upon scanning CCTV footage,” a senior police officer told The Indian Express.The bomb attacks were the result of an alleged turf war between two gangs of students called “Immortals” and “Tandav”, said police. The officer said that police took action against the students because, despite several rounds of counselling and strict warnings, they continued with criminal activities.
“Before their counselling, we have alerted their school authorities and parents. But we found that despite repeated warnings, there was no change in their activities and they continued with criminal activities. Thus, we decided to take legal action against them,” said the officer.
“It came to the fore during the investigation that these students formed groups after they got cell phones for online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic and watched videos on social media. Their groups gradually entered into the fight for supremacy and many of them learnt to make crude bombs through the internet,” said the officer.
Police said that they were scanning call details of the detained students to know their contacts, suspecting the students might be in touch with criminals active in the city. Meanwhile, the police department has prepared a list of students “whose role has so far been confirmed in bomb attacks” and will be sending the list to their respective schools. “We will send the list of students, whose roles have been confirmed, to their respective schools. However, taking action against them would be the sole discretion of the school authorities,” said another police officer, adding most of the detained students belonged to well-to-do families.
The Indian Expressmeanwhile, reached out to the principals of two city schools whose students were detained. “If police provide us the list of students involved in criminal activities and give evidence against them, we will definitely take action against such students, and will even expel them from the school,” said the principal of a school.